2023 RAC Rally of the Tests - Report and images by David Gowshall of DEEGEE Motorsport Photography

2 -  5 November 2023

In 1932, 341 cars entered into a unique motorsport event, the Royal Automobile Club or RAC Rally.  The event started from nine different cities throughout the UK, and finished in Torbay in Devon.

The rally looked very different from the forest special stage-based event that took place from the early 1960’s through to 2019. It was now all about finishing and collecting as few penalty points as possible along the way. The RAC Rally, in this format continued throughout the 1930’s and even took place in 1939, before World War Two gave everyone something more important to worry about.

It was not until 1951 five years after the war ended, that the officially designated 1^st RAC Rally was revived. Throughout the 1950s the RAC Rally remained above all a navigation competition for motoring enthusiasts. 

The organisers at the time, keen on making the event more popular with the public – introduced the concept of “special stages”, on which competitors drove competitively in order to record the fastest time.

The first one became a part of the rally the very next year, 1960, and took place on a closed-off forest track in Scotland. The idea proved to be an astounding success.

The introduction of the forest track special stages gave the RAC Rally its unique character. They quickly increased in number, to the point the original navigational event was no more, and revitalised the dwindling popularity of the whole event. 

However, despite the growing success of stage rallying, the original map-based navigation rally format has continued. With drivers and navigators donning flat caps as opposed to crash helmets. Last weekend I headed out to photograph the 21st edition of the RAC Rally of the Tests as it is now known.

The event which covered approximately 750 miles started just south of the Humber near Scunthorpe. The Prologue on Thursday night and the second day on Friday taking place in and around the Lincolnshire Wolds, close to my home, giving me the opportunity to take in this classic event.



The event then moved on to North Yorkshire eventually finishing on Sunday in County Durham, near to Darlington.

Held in November the event which is regarded as the ultimate driving test is put together by the HERO-ERA organisation. HERO-ERA organise classic rallying events globally attracting entrants from all over the world who compete in a wide range of classic cars.



If there was only one classic rally event organised, all the entrants would choose the RAC Rally of the Tests.   It is the one they all want to win.

The highly regarded 2023 event held over four days (and nights), featured 65 cars taking part in 22 regularity tests. Competitors have to maintain a precise average speed over varying distances, topography and weather conditions using public roads.  In addition there were 30 driving tests which are held on private land and allow the crew to “stretch their vehicle’s legs” a little! These driving tests vary widely in nature and are designed to test both the manoeuvrability and handling of the car, and the outright speed. 

Penalty points are awarded for any digression from the route, or if the cars arrive too late or too early at the stage end.  The crew completing the route having been awarded the least penalty points win the event.

The reliability of the cars is put to the test and the old saying in rallying: ‘To finish first, first you have to finish’; is very appropriate as even the best driver and navigator pairings with years of experience behind them can run into mechanical difficulties, particularly in cars of this age, which can cost them an overall place.

Accordingly, the event organisers provide technical back-up, with mobile workshops following the route and mechanics available to offer their expertise to try and solve any issues that arise. This type of rallying is very much a team effort, with the navigator, arguably, having the most difficult and important role.

On an event like the RAC Rally of the Tests they can win an event or throw it away with one error, the margin is that fine.

They are the office manager, looking after the paperwork, the navigation, timekeeping and generally keeping the driver in tow.

They also have to be familiar with all the many different types of map-based navigational instructions used during the rally.

However, drivers are the ones who tend to get all the glory of winning an event or class, having successfully negotiated the driving tests along the route. There is no ‘I’ in team, as the saying goes, and the crew is only as good as driver, navigator and car combined.

Regularity driving demands something more than out and out speed; it requires a measured approach as well as smoothness and an ability to read the road conditions in front of the car.  It also relies on the driver to listen to the navigator on where the route is going and how far down or up they are in terms of the time schedule so they can adjust their speed accordingly.

From a spectator / photographer point of view the event throws up a real challenge.  Pre-event information is very sparse, as a “secret” rally, even the competitors don’t know any details of the route until a few hours before it begins.



However, very basic details were released a few days before the event, of a few locations along the way where spectators were welcome, two of which on day 2, were centred on well-known Lincolnshire pubs, which reflects the character of the event for those supporting the highly-competitive crews.

Armed with this very limited information and having lived in the Lincolnshire Wolds all my life, I was able to piece together an idea in my head of the rally route.



I set off early on a beautiful autumnal Friday morning, having made sure my car was filled with fuel, on what, in many ways, was a mystery tour, following the cars from the overnight halt, stopping off along the route to take photos. 

The first test of the day, like the previous evening, involved a trip to Blyton Test Track, before the crews headed south around some white roads west of Gainsborough.  Heading east to a mid-morning coffee break in the idyllic Wolds village of Donington on Bain preceded a brief visit to Cadwell Park, which was not accessible to the public. 

The cars headed further east and south to take in Woodthorpe Kart Centre, which was a designated spectator stage. Then back to Cadwell for a bite of lunch and a series of longer tests, including a stage that made very imaginative use of the circuit and access roads, once again necessitating the circuit being closed to spectators.

Into the afternoon and the cars once again plunged into the depths of the scenic northern Wolds, making use of private, farm and single-track roads.  As darkness fell the crews made their way further north to cross the Humber Bridge, at which point I returned home. The rally then continued northwards to an overnight halt in York, before a long day in Yorkshire. 

It had been a thoroughly enjoyable day, seeing these classic cars driven around the area I know as home.  Despite living in the Wolds all my life, the initial very rural sections to the north west of Lincoln that skirted with the county boundary with Nottinghamshire and the River Trent, took me to places I had never visited before in my life. 

It also reminded me that Lincolnshire is the second largest country in England, as I covered well over 200 miles in my pursuit of the action. The event was superbly organised, and ran more or less on time, although as the day progressed the field got slightly spread out.

The weather, after the previous few days heavy rain, played ball, with the sun shining throughout the day. Sadly, as is the nature of the event, it is highly unlikely it will return to Lincolnshire for some time, sticking to the old tradition of moving around the country each year.